EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, the St Petersburg Academy for Post-Graduate Pedagogical Education, German-Russian Exchange and the Russian office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation invite you to the Opening of the Exhibition “Different Wars: National School Textbooks on World War II” on February 13, 2017, at 4pm, in the premises of the Pedagogical Museum of the Academy for Post-Graduate Pedagogical Education (Lomonosov St. 11-13, St Petersburg, Russia, 191002).

The exhibition “Different Wars” reveals the differences in the narration and perception of the history of the World War II in modern high school textbooks of the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.

The choice of the subject is evident: WWII remains one of the most painful and conflicting episodes of the European nations’ memories. In Russia, the victory in this war is one of the most important pages in the state’s history. The exhibition examines, compares and contrasts different readings of the war’s history which are proposed by school textbooks. National and thematic story-lines presented here also highlight little-known aspects of the memory of the World War II. Visitors will have an opportunity to flip through pages of textbooks and to learn the methods of history teaching in different European countries.

The exhibition was initiated by the Working Group “Historical Memory and Education” of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum in close cooperation with historians, civil society activists, history teachers, and enthusiasts from all the countries involved. The Russian version of the exhibition has already been displayed in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Perm. In the European Union, the exhibition was successfully shown in Prague, Milano and Strasbourg. You can find more detailed information here: eu-russia-csf.org/index.php.

During the Opening in St. Petersburg, the introduction address will be made by Stephan Jolovan, the director of the Academy for Post-Graduate Pedagogical Education, Elena Belokurova, Steering Committee Member of the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum, and Alicja Wancerz-Gluza, a historian from the centre KARTA (Warsaw) and author of the exhibition. Representatives of General Consulates of Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania and Poland as well as of the German Heinrich Böll Foundation are invited to participate in the presentation.

The first Exhibition tour will be provided by Robert Latypov, Chairperson of the Perm Regional Branch of the International Memorial Society, a co-author of the exhibition.

The exhibition will run on the Academy premises until 21 April 2017. For individual tours the exhibition is open from 9:30 am to 6 pm on weekdays (Monday - Friday). Seminars for groups (high school and university students, teachers) could be organised by appointment.

Entrance is free.

Contact person: Anna Rapoport, Associate Professor, Department of Culturology Education of St. Petersburg Academy for Post-Graduate Pedagogical Education, tel. + 7-921-348-94-94, anna.rapoport@gmail.com

Please take a look at a small selection of publications in the Russian media about the exhibition “Different Wars”

The presentation in Moscow - https://tvrain.ru/teleshow/rossija_eto_evropa/interpretatsija_vojny-406483/

The presentation in Yekaterinburg - yeltsin.ru/event/raznye-voyny-odna-pobeda/

The presentation in Perm - https://www.newsko.ru/articles/nk-3241380.html

The presentation in Novosibirsk - tayga.info/photo/2016/10/20/%7E130561&nbsp/

Source: 

See also:

Анна Плотникова, 'Возможна ли совместная историческая память о Второй мировой войне?' Voice of America, 14 February 2017